What's new

Positive changes have taken place in the lifestyles of higher education students over the past three years. The amount of physical activity has increased, and daily smoking and use of snus have decreased. On the other hand, negative changes can also be seen: obesity has increased and an increasing number of students find their internet use problematic.

Although the total consumption of alcohol in Finland has decreased from 2008, risky drinking is still common. Of those aged 20–79, 11% or 450,000 people were in the moderate or high-risk group for long-term alcohol-related harm. The limit for the risks of adverse health effects caused by long-term use is more than 14 units per week for men and more than 7 units for women.

This autumn, the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) is studying the well-being of adults living in Finland and their experiences of health and social services.

Alcohol consumption continued to fall last year. According to THL’s latest statistics. the total consumption of alcoholic beverages was 8.7 litres of 100% alcohol per capita (aged 15 or over). This is 2.4% less than in 2022.

People lose the greatest amount of money to slot machines in areas where disadvantage is prevalent, the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare’s (THL) study shows. The availability of slot machines or, the number of slot machines in relation to the number of residents, is also the highest in the most disadvantaged postal code areas, even though the number of slot machines has decreased significantly overall.

There are 89,000 underage persons in Finland whose one biological parent or both parents have a serious substance abuse problem at some point before the child's adulthood. This represents 8.7% of all children. 42,000 children have a biological parent who currently has a serious substance abuse problem. Substance abuse is more common among fathers than mothers. This is shown by a register study carried out by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare.

Finns had primarily negative attitudes towards gambling. According to a population study conducted in 2023, attitudes towards gambling have become more negative in younger age groups, while becoming more positive in older age groups. The previous study was carried out in 2019.

The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) will conduct an extensive survey for higher education students in March and April. An invitation to the survey will be sent to 12,000 randomly selected students from universities and universities of applied sciences.

A recent report compares Finns’ state of health and Finnish health services with other EU states and Nordic countries. Released by the European Commission, focus areas of the report include the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and mental health. Although Finland does well in many respects, there are challenges especially in the availability of health services.